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This is a summer event for basketball, this is a combination of sports and entertainment, this is the new IP of the NBA, and this is a gold mine waiting to be further explored.

This is the NBA awards ceremony, a two-plus hour award ceremony with a huge market of $2.3 billion behind it, and the size of the industry is expanding at an astonishing rate.

"It's an opportunity for the NBA to build a new tradition, and it's an experience like never before," Shaw, the league's president, said of the ceremony.

Behind the scenes: the NBA's media war with the NFL

Awards ceremonies are new to the NBA, having been held for the first time in 2017 and for the second time, but for the other three major sports leagues in the United States, awards ceremonies are a regular event. The National Hockey League debuted the first awards ceremony for the four major sports leagues in 2009, the National Football League followed suit in 2012, and Major League Baseball launched the awards ceremony in 2015.

Among the four major sports league award ceremonies, FL's awards ceremony takes place every year the night before the Super Bowl, FLHonors, which is the exclusive IP of the NFL awards ceremony, has been held for seven times, with an average viewership of more than 4 million.

The NFL awards ceremony adopts the method of cultural and sports combination, entertainment stars serve as on-site hosts and perform cultural performances, and NFL stars are dressed up to attend, and the red carpet show is star-studded, which is quite attention-grabbing. The 2018 NFL Awards ceremony was held in Minneapolis, and it snowed heavily on the day of the ceremony, but it did not affect the grandeur of the ceremony at all, and a large number of fans appeared on the outdoor red carpet show, braving the wind and snow just to see the style of sports stars, which was a show jointly presented by sports and entertainment.

The NBA's awards ceremony is very similar to the NFL in terms of model, and it also takes the route of cultural and sports cooperation. The awards ceremony was produced by Dick Clark Productions, a well-known entertainment production company that produced major awards such as the Golden Globe Awards and the American Music Awards. In 2017, the first NBA awards ceremony, in addition to NBA stars, celebrities and celebrities, there were also a number of entertainment celebrities led by the famous artist Drake. Nicki Minaj, who has won awards at the Grammys and American Music Awards, gave a hot performance for the ceremony, and Harden sat in the audience and watched with a straight look in his eyes, which became a classic shot of the awards ceremony, which was widely shared on social media.

The 2018 awards ceremony continued the same as in 2017, with movie star Anthony Anderson as the host, and a number of entertainment stars participated in the ceremony, not only entertainment big watches, but also Oladipo, the winner of the Most Progress Award, sang a song on the spot. The way of cultural and sports cooperation has brought new attention to the NBA, fans of entertainment stars will learn about the NBA through the award ceremony, and the entertainment media will also focus on the NBA award ceremony. At the 2017 awards ceremony, Tencent Sports' front correspondent went to the scene to interview and found that many basketball reporters were a little overwhelmed because they were participating in this kind of entertainment NBA awards ceremony for the first time, but the entertainment media colleagues on the scene were like fish in water.

Numerous entertainment stars attended the NBA Awards ceremony

Behind the awards ceremony, BA has a better international market size, but in the United States, the NFL takes the lead. The income cake of sports leagues, TV broadcast fees are a very large piece, and the level of broadcast fees is determined by ratings. In the most recent annual ratings in the United States, the NFL dominated the top three and the Super Bowl ranked first, followed by the NFL National League and the American League playoffs. In the top 16 of this list, the NFL has 10 seats and 6 seats in the top seven, and the ratings dominance is quite amazing. Compared to the NFL, the NBA's television ratings are much less impressive, with the highest ranking being the Finals, which ranks 23rd on the list.

Given the Warriors' dominance in the Finals, it's no surprise that the NBA Finals ratings are less than ideal, and the NBA Division Finals are more appealing than the Finals. Both the 2018 Eastern and Western Finals reached a tie-break, with an average viewership of 9 million, a 40% increase over the 2017 Division Finals. In 2018, TNT reached 14.8 million viewers. The 2018 East Final Rush was broadcast live by ESPN and had 13.3 million viewers.

The NBA Divisional Finals averaged 9 million viewers, ranking second in the rankings of the four major sports leagues' Divisional Finals viewers, ahead of the MLB (6.35 million) and the NHL, but still behind the NFL, and the NFL Divisional Finals averaged a staggering 43 million, giving it a fairly solid lead.

It is precisely because the NFL games are far ahead of the traditional TV media in the ratings that BA earns $2.6 billion a year through new broadcast contracts, which is an increase of 180% compared to the previous broadcast contract, but it is still a drop in the bucket compared to the NFL's TV contract, which earns up to $7 billion a year!

The NBA lags behind the NFL in the battle for the traditional media market, with BA topping the 1 billion mark in social media followings, and the NBA is the only professional sports league to do so. In the field of Twitter, the NBA crushes the NFL, and the NBA's official Twitter has 3 million more followers than the NFL. This is related to the difference in the audience groups of the two major leagues, the fans of the NFL are mainly white and conservative, nearly 70% of the fans are 35 years old or older, they are not keen on Twitter, the media model is more inclined to the traditional way, 45% of BA fans are under the age of 35, the NBA is the only one in the four major sports leagues with a greater proportion of black fans than whites, and youth and diversity are what the NBA is pursuing.

The new media market is a powerful weapon for the NBA to compete with the NFL, and the award ceremony is one of the ways for the NBA to form a new economic growth point through the new media market. In addition to the traditional TV commercials and the sponsor's logo display at the awards ceremony, the NBA's related websites and related social media, all content related to the award ceremony, including videos, highlights and pictures, will appear in the sponsor's promotional content.

The combination of NBA award ceremonies, sponsors, and new media has formed a new industrial chain, and this industrial chain has $2.3 billion hanging on it.

Value: $2.3 billion gold mine

As a professional sports league, the NBA's revenue mainly comes from three aspects, one is the sale of tickets to games and related products, the second is corporate sponsorship, and the third is broadcast contracts. In the recently concluded 2017-18 season, the NBA's sponsorship revenue reached $1.12 billion, a 31 percent increase from the previous season. In the 2013-14 season, before Shaw became president of the league, the NBA's sponsorship revenue was $680 million. In the four years since Xiao Hua took charge of the NBA, the sponsorship has increased by 65%. In terms of sponsorship money, the gap between the NBA and the NFL is narrowing, with the NFL sponsoring 1.25 billion in the most recent season.

When a company invests money, it has to see the effect of publicity. In 2014, Shaw's first year as NBA chairman, the league agreed to contract renewals with a number of sponsors, who made clear requests for increased exposure in digital and social media. Dr. Michael Phal, an assistant professor at Ohio University's School of Sports Administration, led a team that surveyed trends in corporate-sponsored sports leagues, and more than 85 percent of sponsors surveyed said they were increasing their investment in digital and social media, while only 38 percent said they were spending more on TV advertising.

"The most important reason is the return on investment, there are a lot of companies willing to sponsor professional sports, but they want more in return, digital media and social media can bring a message that the sponsor is happy with," said Phal. ”

The NBA is a pioneer in digital media in professional sports, and as the first professional sports league to surpass the 1 billion social media following mark, the NBA has an absolute advantage in social media promotion, with the number of followers on the NBA's official Twitter, Facebook and Instagram combined to exceed 70 million. The same commercial pitch, displayed through the NBA's social media, can be seen by more people, which is a higher rate of return. "Your ad can be seen by tens of millions of people, and if you advertise on TV and want to do that, it costs five times as much on Twitter," said Blake Lawrence, CEO of Opendorse, which specializes in social media monetization.

Among the sponsors who renewed their contract with the NBA in 2014, Kia was one of the important partners of the NBA. Kia has teamed up with the NBA since 2008, and Kia is the title sponsor of the NBA's regular season MVP, Rookie of the Year award, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Player of the Year and Most Improved Player. In the contract extension signed with the NBA in 2014, BA opened the "Best Shot of the Game" named after Kia on the official website of the league, and the fans voted on, and the option with the most votes became the "Shot of the Year". At the same time, the NBA ran Kia ads on Twitter and Vine.

The award ceremony is a big gift from the NBA in accordance with the requirements of sponsors. The main sponsor of the awards ceremony was Kia, and the NBA combined traditional and emerging ways of promoting to meet the sponsors' requirements. While traditional methods include awards ceremony promos, awards ceremony red carpet billboards, live commercial spots, and elaborate animated billboards, new methods include highlighting sponsors' logos when promoting awards ceremonies on NBA's official social media, and the NBA has introduced a number of fan-voted awards, such as the best dunk of the season. Fans can vote through social media such as the NBA's official website and Twitter, which have sponsor logos in all voting areas.

Kia, as the title sponsor of several major NBA awards, had limited publicity effect before 2017, when the NBA only notified which player won the award through an official announcement, and then held a very simple press conference with several sponsor billboards on the spot, and the effect can be imagined. The award ceremony is a comprehensive upgrade of the award ceremony, which is broadcast live on TV, website and social media at the same time, and the sponsor's logo is matched with the award ceremony, which is the ideal mode of publicity. "Sponsors are asking for new, creative outreach packages," Dr. Phal said.

After the inaugural NBA awards ceremony, Kia renewed its contract with the NBA, this time on a long-term contract, in addition to sponsoring the NBA, Kia also became a sponsor of the NBA and the Development League, also sponsored the NBA draft, and won the All-Star MVP naming rights on the basis of naming the regular season MVP and other awards. At the same time, Kia is also a sponsor of 11 NBA teams, including the Warriors and Cavaliers. The effect of the awards ceremony is evident through Kia's expansion of cooperation with the NBA.

The award ceremony is also a reward for broadcasters, and in 2014 the NBA reached a new broadcast deal with ESPN/ABC and TNT, which is a nine-year deal with a total value of $24 billion, with an average annual broadcast fee of $2.6 billion, ESPN/ABC pays the NBA $1.4 billion a year, and TNT pays $1.2 billion a year. The annual broadcast fee of $1.2 billion is a high cost for TNT, and the NBA is obliged to provide TNT with more and better products. In the agreement between the NBA and TNT, it is stipulated that the NBA will hand over the award ceremony to TNT for broadcasting, which is a special right of the NBA to TNT. In addition, ESPN has its own awards ceremony, ESPY, and it makes sense that the NBA chose to partner with TNT for the awards ceremony.

The four kings of TNT commented at the award ceremony

With $1.12 billion from sponsors and $1.2 billion from TNT, the $2.3 billion needs to be given back in a better way by the NBA, and the awards ceremony is one of the ways. The awards ceremony provides sponsors with better publicity and brings a good opportunity for broadcasters to attract advertising and create benefits, which is exactly how high-level awards ceremonies and broadcasters cooperate, and it is also the direction that the NBA is trying to explore in the field of award ceremonies.

The Future: The Oscars of Sports?

In terms of the industry model of the awards ceremony, the Oscars are undoubtedly the frontrunners. At a single Oscars, it was able to get more than $70 million in broadcast fees from ABC, and BC bought the Oscar broadcast rights at a high price because of the high revenue, with advertising revenue alone reaching $115 million. The Oscars' 30-second ad costs $1.9 million to $2 million.

The high revenue of the Oscars comes from high ratings, and despite the ratings waterloo in 2018, the average viewership of the 19 Oscars since 2000 is still as high as 39 million. What is the concept of 39 million? The highest-rated single game in NBA history was the sixth game of the 1998 Finals, which was the last game of Jordan's Bulls career, Jordan made two shots in the last 40 seconds of the game to kill the game and win the championship, which was one of the greatest games in NBA history, with 35.89 million viewers, which is a record in NBA history, but not as average as the Oscars.

The Oscars are attractive for a long time, as well as the number of fans and other factors, which cannot be compared with the NBA awards ceremony that has only been held for two years, but the Oscar model still has a lot to learn from the NBA, especially the suspense of the Oscars. As the most famous film awards ceremony in the world, the Oscars are not absolutely popular, and there are often big hits that are bound to lose, and the winners who are often favored by the outside world end up empty-handed, such as Leonardo, who once focused on the Oscar escort, and only won the award after 22 years.

The NBA awards ceremony has relatively little suspense in terms of award attribution, especially the most important award regular season MVP, the award has not been awarded, and the media and fans have guessed that it is not far from ten, for example, Harden won the award this year, and the MVP competition is far less intense than the best rookie, but the best rookie award is the first award of the award ceremony, and the biggest suspense is revealed at the beginning. At the Oscars, where the candidates often gather together and wait nervously and excitedly for the final result, this is the attraction of the awards ceremony, which is exactly what the NBA awards ceremony lacks. James, the current NBA No. 1 star, did not come, although he was one of the three candidates for MVP, and he had no hope of winning the award and was unwilling to accompany him, which inevitably weakened the star of the awards ceremony.

In the field of sports awards, the Y Awards Ceremony was founded by ESPN in 1993, once a year, the Y Awards Ceremony is very inspiring for the NBA, and ESPY adopts the grand ceremony model in which the sports and entertainment industry celebrities participate together, taking the 2017 ESPY Awards Ceremony as an example, there are more than 200 big-name guests in the sports and media industry present, which is a real star.

ESPY's award selection process begins with a special candidate selection committee to put forward a shortlist, and then sports fans vote on the Internet, and the winner with the most votes wins, which can not only ensure professionalism, but also stimulate the enthusiasm of sports fans to participate in it, Y is not only sports, nor is it just entertainment, Y will donate a part of the income from the award ceremony to charity every year, the NBA's All-Star Game has introduced this mechanism, the award ceremony has a special community care award, and the expansion of cooperation with charitable organizations is not far away.

The ESPY Awards Ceremony also bears social responsibility, such as the 2016 Awards Ceremony, James, Wade, Paul and Anthony, four NBA stars, as the opening guests, spoke out against the shooting violence and racial issues that occurred in the United States at that time, which is a sublimation of the awards ceremony and is worth learning from the NBA awards ceremony.

As the awards ceremony that has just been held for two years, the NBA awards ceremony does not have a historical background, and there are still many links that need to be further improved, but the NBA has hundreds of millions of fans, has strong sponsors, and the cooperation with major media is also a win-win model, which can promote the development of the NBA awards ceremony to a higher level and form a more complete industrial chain.

In 2018, the U.S. awards ceremony suffered a cold winter, the Oscars viewership fell by 20% compared to last year, the Grammy Awards viewership fell by 24% compared with the previous year, and the American film Golden Globe Awards viewership fell by 5% year-on-year. The attractiveness of the traditional awards ceremony is declining, and the NBA awards ceremony as a new thing in the basketball field, BA was originally a professional sports league from scratch, from weak to strong, the NBA has excellent resource conditions, and has the ability and opportunity to make the awards ceremony bigger and stronger, making it the Oscar of the sports world.